Demona was working on an escape plan. She had already tried several ideas, but nothing had been successful. She would just have to bide her time.
Idly, Demona lay on her bed and let her mind drift over the last few days. She relished in the fact that everyone still seemed to be scrambling around, trying to fix their little human. As long as they continued in such a way, Demona knew that the detective was still unconscious, and she was enjoying it.
Humans were so fragile, Demona mused. And so susceptible to magic spells.
Demona thought about the spell that she had cast on Elisa. She had altered it somewhat from its original. Instead of sending Elisa to glimpse the past, she actually sent her consciousness into the past. Into a previous life, if one were to believe in reincarnation.
Honestly, if the clan had let her go to her home and retrieve it, it might have taken her longer than she'd originally thought. She'd forgotten that it was on a single hand written page.
Demona sat upright so suddenly that even the Iron Clan sentry seemed to flinch.
It was a spell…
On a torn page…
From a book that had been destroyed long ago…
One of the few that she'd brought from…
Oh, Gods damn it!
Demona howled her rage.
She remembered now where she'd gotten that page… and she remembered the last time she'd seen it before the clan had found it among her belongings yesterday.
-{- -{- -{- -{- -{-
Elisa heard fast footfalls approach, and sat up straighter.
"I think I found it," A breathless Demona came into the room, a large leather bound book in her hands. "Can you look at it, and tell me if it sounds like the spell that was cast on you?"
Elisa looked at the page that Demona had pointed to. Sounding it out to herself, she said, "I think so, but...This word was different, I think."
Demona raised her brow, and started suggesting words. Once Elisa had been able to identify the word change, Demona blinked at her. "Whoever cast this on you, truly did not like you. I suggest you avoid them in the future."
"Unfortunately," Elisa said, shaking her head, "I'm not sure that I can, but I will try."
"Well, then. We have the original spell, changing the word 'view' to 'embrace'," Demona thought aloud as she flipped a few pages in the book. "That means that this," She turned a few more pages, then she pointed to another spell, "is the counter spell."
Elisa all but jumped to her feet. "Please," she asked, "Send me home."
Demona looked at her in her usual calculating way. "On one condition."
"What do you want?" Elisa asked.
"I want a favor from you, at some time next we meet." Demona said.
"If we meet again, and I am able," Elisa hesitated. "I will do my best to repay this favor for another."
Demona nodded, accepting that that was probably the best she was going to get from a human. She raised one taloned hand in the air, and waved it at the human detective and began the spell.
"Quam illi remittam
ex quo intravit
Ut corpus eius retro
Ut nomen eius retro"
Elisa forced herself to stay still and let the magic wash over her. By this point, it took a supreme act of will to do so, since she had been hit with a LOT of different spells. Most of them bad… and most of them from Demona. This time, however, instead of the magic crashing into her, hitting her like a fist, it washed gently over her with the softest of caresses.
So this is what it was like to have someone cast a spell on a person that was not meant to harm, Elisa thought, irritated. It was kind of nice…
Then Elisa felt the presence in her mind.
'Nell?' She had time to think before Elisa began to experience the process she had already been through in reverse. This time, she had the distinct feeling of being pulled upward.
One moment she was standing in front of Demona, then her vision blurred and she was once again floating in space looking at the movie screen-like vision through Nell's eyes.
A gasp made Elisa turn, and suddenly she was looking at a young woman. For the first time, she was able to see Nell clearly.
The resemblance was uncanny, Elisa thought as the two women stared at each other. They weren't identical, but could have easily passed as siblings.
Nell reached out to wards Elisa, and Elisa reached to clasp her hand.
Nell smiled. "Thank you," she said, then disappeared as she was once more in control of her body.
Elisa turned to watch the 'movie screen', and wondered how long she was going to be stuck in this space. When would she be able to go home…
It felt as if a large hand had suddenly grabbed her around her middle and yanked her backwards. Elisa watched the view of Nell's eyes rapidly shrank until is vanished in the swirling mist.
Then it felt like she had been tossed. The pressure was gone, and she was falling.
Falling…
Falling…